Legal Studies

College of Liberal Arts

Certificate in Legal Studies (code COLACT03)

The Certificate Program in Legal Studies is designed for students who are interested in the study of law as a cultural product and as a field of critical inquiry. It is not a professional program in para-legal education. The certificate may be earned in conjunction with any baccalaureate degree and should be especially useful to those preparing for careers in government service, business, journalism and education. Courses taken in the program may be used to satisfy major, minor, other credential or general education requirements. No more than 12 units, however, may be in the candidate’s major.

The Legal Studies Certificate may be earned concurrently with or following the award of the baccalaureate degree from CSULB or another accredited institution. See pp. 102 and 114.

Requirements

Twenty-four total units distributed as follows:

1. Twenty-one units which must include HIST 308I and an additional 18 units from the courses listed below. The courses taken in the program must be from a minimum of three departments. The selection of courses is made by the student in consultation with an adviser in the program;

2. Project paper (3 units). To be written during the senior year under the supervision of a faculty member participating in the Certificate Program. The paper can be either an exploratory project (in which a subject is researched in a detailed and original manner) or an analytic effort (where fewer sources are used but the discussion of the material is developed more fully).